pnome
Senior Member
First off, this is not an argument for or against the existence of God. Only for the existence of an immortal soul. It is an "a priori" argument of course but humor me.
It is an argument presented in Plato's Phaedo. A dialog between Socrates and one of his mourners named Cebes, before he drinks hemlock for his death sentence by the Athenians.
Blatant copy and paste from:
http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rickless/Rickless/PHIL100_files/Phaedo.pdf
Cyclical Argument (70b-72a)
1. Those that have an opposite come to be from their opposite.
2. Being alive is the opposite of being dead.
So, 3. Living creatures come to be from the dead. (1,2)
4. If X comes to be from Y, then there is a process of becoming from Y to X.
So, 5. There is a process of becoming from being dead to being alive. (3,4)
6. If there is a process of becoming from being dead to being alive, it must be
the process of the dead coming to life.
7. If the dead come to life, then (the souls of) the dead are somewhere.
So, C. (The souls of) the dead are somewhere. (5,6,7)
This is just a summary of course. You can read the whole section here:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0170:text=Phaedo:section=70b
Starts on section 70b goes to 72a
What do you think? (believers are welcome to give their thoughts as well)